


Hold Me Tight

by SteelBlaidd



Series: Scenes from a Miraculous Life [3]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Anxiety, F/M, It's still Not Suitable/Safe For Work, Japanese Rope Bondage, Lukanette, Multi, Music, Rope Bondage, Sensory Processing Disorder, Shibari, rope, rope play, this is not smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-31
Updated: 2020-05-31
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:07:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24474763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SteelBlaidd/pseuds/SteelBlaidd
Summary: Marinette loved to be bound.She loved the feel and smell of the rope.The stretch of muscles and tendons.The burn and strain of each breath.She loved how the discipline of the rope in her meditation soothed her anxiety and stilled her mind when it threatened to spiral into disaster.She loved the care and safety she felt in every wrap and knot made by Luka’s gentle loving hands.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Kagami Tsurugi, Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: Scenes from a Miraculous Life [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1728766
Comments: 24
Kudos: 48





	Hold Me Tight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sagansjagger](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sagansjagger/gifts).



> The marvelous author [sagansjagger](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sagansjagger) at the [Miraculous Fanworks Discord](https://discord.gg/mlfanworks) has a [brilliant series of Fics](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1744090) where the Kwami give each of their respective holders some version of the talk. One of the ideas floated was Sass and Luka discussing bondage. She decided not to pursue it but, the idea kept kicking around my head and this came out.
> 
> My great gratitude to my Betas [sagansjagger](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sagansjagger) herself, [Itookyourpen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Itookyourpen/pseuds/Itookyourpen), [AshFreesky](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AshFreesky/pseuds/AshFreesky), [GalahadWilder](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalahadWilder/pseuds/GalahadWilder) and all the rest of the Fabulous people at the [Miraculous Fanworks Discord, come play with us.](https://discord.gg/XR6UHT)

Marinette breathed slowly, as deep as the ropes wrapped tight around her torso would allow. The strong hemp pressed in, then loosening, with each breath imparting a gentle sway, like a father rocking foot to foot to soothe their baby to sleep, as she hung mid-air in the cavernous room where Emilie’s status pod stood and Hawk Moth had farmed his butterflies.

All Marinette’s attention was turned inward, eyes wrapped tight with a silken scarf. She felt the play and pull of each muscle as she strained against her bonds, arms doubled up and knotted wrist-to-wrist behind her back in parody of prayer. Left leg cocked, cords wrapping calf to thigh. Right leg shooting out behind her like a tail. It curved back, toe pointed and reaching toward the back of her head, her body bent almost full circle. A spiral of red rope spilled down the same leg starting from the harness tied around her hips. As the rope traveled down her leg it lashed her left foot tight against the thigh and then continued past to knot at the ankle. Then, up to the junction where the sling under her chest hung on the hook at the end of the steel cable that had raised her to her current position and now kept her suspended like a dancer frozen in mid leap.

The soft movement of air fluttering across her bare skin raised goose-flesh all along her body.

Inhale 

Hold 

Exhale

Hold

Inhale

Total focus on her own breath and body as she settled into the pose, until it felt as comforting and secure as the bed where she slept snuggled tight among her most loved.

Her focus narrowed to a single point, then flashed outward, stretching her senses to the limits. Ears strained to catch the smallest sound; the rustle of leaves from the garden below, the whir and whump of fans and air handlers, the creak of the ropes at each breath. Luka, seated by the winch controls, softly picking out _While My Guitar Gently Weeps_ on a Shamisen. He was unusually hesitant as his deft hands learned the new instrument. Tikki crunched away at a fruit tart, by the smell, as she sat perched on Marinette's left shoulder. 

The corners of Marinette's lips drew up in a small smile. The ancient being had once said one of her favorite things about humans was no matter how many Ladybugs she had had, they always came up with something new to surprise her. And Tikki found Marinette's particular meditation ritual fascinating; the rope binding techniques of _Kinbaku_ being traditionally used for erotic and aesthetic rather than ascetic purposes. 

Marinette stretched her awareness further, focusing on scent now. The sharp tang of iron in water, the fragrance of the flowers and the earth of their beds, ozone from the electricity powering the lights, the musky farmyard smell of the rope layered with the jasmine of the conditioning wax, and dozens of others.

Touch again now; the pinch and scratch of the rope as it shifted, the heat from the lamps dappled across her skin, moisture in the air from the plants in the chamber mingling with her own sweat. 

Then a final push into the special realm of awareness that she had only recently learned to be conscious of in her untransformed state. It felt like the whole room pressed against her skin: She could feel every nut and bolt and flake of rust in the walls. Every twitching leaf, every creeping ant or spider. The furrow in her lover's brow as he focused on a tricky passage, strings and plectrum dancing under his calloused fingers. The vibrations in the air from his gentile song passing over her like a caress. Marinette was so close to counting the specs of dust floating through the air she could taste it. But even after weeks of practice that level of awareness remained stubbornly out of reach, dancing past her fingers like fog, skittering like a squirrel past the corner of her mind's eye.

The slight shift in her balance as Tikki retrieved the last of the pastries from the bag secured at the small of her back alerted Marinette that time was growing short. She turned her attention again to the feel of the ropes, their comforting pressure helping Marinette find the borders of her body once again. 

It was Adrien that first realized that a tight, enveloping hug was more than emotional support for Marinette. There was a deeper reason why it was the best treatment when her anxiety threatened to spiral out of control. He had known her longest and best - in and out of the suit - and as Chat had been privy to her gushing more than once about how it’s firm pressure over every inch of her body felt so comforting. 

There was a subtle quirk to Marinette’s neurology that made the whole world phenomenally present to her senses and allowed her to see the world in incredible detail even in the chaos of battle. It was part of what made her such a good Ladybug according to Tikki, but only a part and not the most important. It fed the pictures in her mind that then poured out in clothing and posters and pastries and all the other creations that flowed from her clever hands. 

This quirk in her brain also meant that when nervous or stressed those same senses could become overloaded. Turning the hush of the library into a Jagged Stone concert in a mirrored closet; strobes flashing and all the amps turned up to eleven. The negative feedback loop would drive her anxiety higher and higher. The more she stressed the louder the world grew stresing her further. A single pebble turning into an avalanche of sensation that swept all thought away and caused her to start to lose track of her own body. The boundary between herself and the world dissolving like a sand castle at the beach.

Deep pressure to the core was apparently a standard treatment for this kind of sensory overload according to the websites Adrian found. So when Marinette had imagined her Ladybug suit for the first time, her subconscious need for comfort and security had manifested as that extra little bit of tightness in the fabric. The deep pressure helped her stay centered when she was Ladybug, the firm tight constriction helping her find the edges of herself in the cacophony of her heightened awareness. Adrien had made the connection between that and her complaints about how much louder and rough the world seemed to her untransformed self, even though what she experienced was so much less than she could sense as Ladybug. With typical enthusiasm, Adrien had dived into researching the phenomena and found all sorts of information and tools like weighted blankets to help meet her sensory needs when not suited-up. 

Kagami offered ideas of her own. She suggested adapting the Japanese art of sensual rope binding as a grounding tool. Luka had been the quickest and most adept at learning the techniques. The years of practice with knots that came with living on a boat gave him a distinct advantage. 

Marinette had been compelled to study the techniques herself to understand and absorb this newly encountered form of creativity. Techniques which she applied to broad silk ribbons, both in her pressure therapy and fashion designs. It resulted in a very successful Winter show the previous year, featuring design ideas that became Marinette and Kagami’s dresses for the Christmas Ball. Juleka wore the final look she had modeled for the show to that same Ball. It had been by far the most daring, framing more than covering her statuesque two meters. Watching Rose’s delight at the tongue-lolling, eye-popping reactions her partner attracted from the other party goers was almost as much fun as Adrien's frustration when he and Marinette and Luka and Kagami got home afterward. He had to carefully _unwrap_ his ‘presents’ rather than ripping them open as was his wont. Luka, always the most patient, was content to tease them back, taking his own sweet time when it was his turn to help with unwrapping. After, ribbons and rope took up an honored place in their toy chest by the bed. 

Marinette smiled at the memory as she took the three cleansing breaths that marked the end of the exercise and her return to the normal boundaries of herself.

“Tikki,” she called softly. 

The tiny god swallowed the last of her last cookie. “Is it time for you to be done, Marinette?” she chirped.

“Yes, Tikki. Please tell Luka that i'm ready to come down now.” 

Marinettte shifted a little as the kwami flew off. A few moments later the music stopped and Marinette felt herself descending. She felt the vibrations from the winch motor through the cable holding her aloft. A minute later she was caught in strong arms, lifted off the hook and layed in the soft grass beside the path that led from the entrance platform to the glass coffin which had sheltered Adrien’s mother. 

“How did it go?” Luka asked as he carefully tugged loose the knots that held her bent like Diana’s bow. 

“Very well,” she replied. “I can feel a little more each time and still stay centered.” 

Marinette shifted to a seated posture as the last restraint on her legs fell away. 

“I think I'm going to want just a breast bind for the board meeting today,” she said.

“Audrey not going to be there this time?" Luka inquired as his nimble fingers attacked the ropes on her upper torso. 

“No, she will be there... but our track record of successful seasons have finally made her much less anxious.”

As the remains of the ropes were lifted, Marinette scooted into Luka’s lap and leaned into his chest. The last thing to go was her blindfold, leaving her in nothing but her Miraculous.

Thay sat for a few moments in companionable silence as the circulation in her limbs returned to normal, her head lolled back onto his shoulder as he buried his nose in the crook of her neck, nibbling gentle kisses up to her ear. Tikki was darting through the flowerbeds chasing aphids as Sass hovered nearby.

Then they stood and walked, hand in hand ropes tossed over his shoulder, back to the entrance where he had left the Shamisen and her outfit for the day on its rack. Like many of her formal “business” suits she had cut and tailored it to disguise the subtle tells when her undergarments were made of cotton cord wrapped tight around her, rather than more traditional silks and satins.

Marinette stretched, slipped on her chemise then stood with her arms raised as Luka bound her chest in a simple ladder tie. Bands of the softer, unscented cotton cord resting above and below her breasts.

As he finished the last knot at her back he pulled her close. The long fingers of his left hand lacing with hers as they rested together at her sternum, his right arm around her waist. Marinette twisted to look over her right shoulder, arm raised to the sky, hand resting on the back of his head to guide his lips to hers as they indulged in a lingering kiss. Slow and gentle, their breath passing lightly from one to the other as if they shared a single set of lungs.

Reluctantly they released each other. Luka coiled up the ropes as Marinette donned her fashionable armor and readied herself to do battle with the day for their kingdom.

**Author's Note:**

> [Introduction to the Why of Deep Pressure Stimulation](https://www.sensacalm.com/blogs/news/why-you-need-to-try-deep-pressure-touch-stimulation-today)
> 
> Inspiration for Ladybug's sense expansion came from [this MariChat May 2020 work](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23844211/chapters/58138639) by [DearestMrIcarus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DearestMrIcarus/pseuds/DearestMrIcarus) and [epcot97](https://archiveofourown.org/users/epcot97)
> 
> Title is from by the Beattles [Hold Me Tight](https://youtu.be/H42Ou13za30)  
> Luka is playing [this arrangement of _While My Guitar Gently Weeps_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EqHQipKjAQ)
> 
> Juleka’s dress is kind of like [this one J. Lo once wore](https://www.zimbio.com/photos/Jennifer+Lopez/2015+American+Music+Awards+Press+Room/hoZu4YdkWl-) only more so.  
> [Really incredible Kinbaku-bi (NSFW)](https://scene360.com/art/97256/rope-bondage-photography/)  
>   
> [The pose Marinette is in is sort of like this (NSFW)](https://scene360.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/japanese-bondage-02.jpg)  
>   
> [The tie at the end. Part of a very detailed Shibari instruction site. (Also NSFW)](http://rope365.com/chestladder/)


End file.
